Military Aviation

A Chinese Su-27 fighter made several “dangerous” and “unprofessional” passes at a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon this week-coming as close as an estimated 20 feet at one point-in what the White House calleda “deeply concerning provocation.” The incident, which is reportedly in violation of international law, occurred Tuesday in international airspace in the South China […]

The Federal Aviation Administration today issued a new NOTAM restricting U.S. operators from flying in the airspace above Iraq due to what it described as “the hazardous situation created by the armed conflict.” The new NOTAM supersedes a previous one that prohibited U.S. operators from flying below 20,000 feet over Iraq. The NOTAM states that […]

The Millionaires’ Unit was the appellation given to a group of wealthy Yale University students who were determined to fight the Axis before the U.S. was involved in World War I – and they did so by learning to fly. They formed the nucleus of what became naval aviation and served – some died – […]

The U.S. military said it had grounded the entire fleet of 97 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets until completion of additional inspections of the warplane’s single engine, built by Pratt & Whitney, according to a report by Reuters. The Pentagon’s F-35 program office, Air Force and Navy issued directives on Thursday ordering the suspension of […]

More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, a record of calamity that exposes the potential dangers of throwing open American skies to drone traffic, according to a yearlong Washington Post investigation. Since the outbreak of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military drones have malfunctioned […]

This week has seen two seen two military jet crashes, fortunately with no serious injuries. The first, a Marine AV-8B Harrier, impacted in a residential neighborhood in Imperial, Calif., at 4:20 PDT on Wednesday, destroying three homes and leading to the evacuation of eight others. The pilot ejected safely and was hospitalized for evaluation. The […]

The last plane to undergo maintenance inside Boeing Wichitas facility, an E-4B, started its engines and took off Thursday. It flew to the south, then gracefully turned back north for a final goodbye pass before disappearing from sight. A fixture in Wichita, Kan., since 1927, Boeing once employed as many as 40,000 people there. It […]

Federal border security agents have sharply reduced intercepts of general aviation aircraft, following complaints by pilots that excessive police action at small airports is restricting the freedom to fly and a meeting with AOPA President Mark Baker according to a report by National Public Radio. An official with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of […]

A U.S. District Judge in Denver, Colo., has approved a $6.15 million settlementof a lawsuit between United Airlines and 1,160 United pilots who served in the military from 2000 to 2010-resulting in one of the largest reported payments to resolve a claim brought under the federal veterans reemployment rights law, known as the Uniformed Services […]

A Beechcraft MC-12 Liberty reconnaissance aircraft began flying missions earlier this week over northeastern Nigeria in the search for more than 250 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. It has been joined by unmanned surveillance aircraft, a Global Hawk, as well, reflecting a growing U.S. participation in the search efforts for the girls, though Pentagon officials […]